About the work
Les Boréades is Jean-Philippe Rameau's final opera, composed in 1763 to a libretto attributed to Louis de Cahusac. The court premiere never took place during Rameau's lifetime; the work was first heard in concert in 1975, and its staged premiere followed on 21 July 1982 at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence under John Eliot Gardiner.
Plot
Queen Alphise of Bactria loves the commoner Abaris and is prepared to give up her throne, since the law of her land requires her to marry a descendant of the wind god Boreas. After complications involving the Boreads, Abaris turns out to be a descendant of Boreas himself, allowing the two to be united.
Cultural significance
Because the score only became accessible in the 20th century, the work remained unknown for two centuries; Gardiner's rediscovery is now seen as a key moment of the Rameau revival, and the opera is often described as a summation of his compositional legacy.